Today, museums address artificial intelligence as a topic and are being recognised as promising places to learn about AI. This project explores how museums can promote AI literacy. To this end, we employed a two-stage research design. First, we analysed the presentation of AI in thematic exhibitions in German museums in 2022-2023 through interviews with curators and by documenting exhibition content and design. Our analysis revealed that curators critically engage with dominant AI narratives, attempting to counter AI hype by highlighting risks and societal implications, and making AI less intimidating by showcasing its more mundane applications. Subsequent experiments, namely an online laboratory study (2024) and a field study in a museum setting (2025), empirically tested how effective different approaches to presenting AI in museums are in changing people’s attitudes towards AI and stimulating their interest in the subject. Based on an analysis of existing exhibitions and literature, we developed learning interventions that contextualise information about AI with added critical messages or examples of everyday AI uses. We present the key findings of these studies and emphasise the importance of exploring the potential and constraints of museum learning in promoting AI literacy and encouraging critical thinking.
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